Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Revelation 21:8


8 But as for the cowards and the ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in courage and the cowardly submissive, and as for the unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and adulterous and the practicers of magic arts and the idolaters (those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything other than God) and all liars (those who knowingly convey untruth by word or deed)--[all of these shall have] their part in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.

We are told that all of these kind of people have their part in the Lake of Fire. Now our Father has just told us in the first part of this Chapter that He will have made everything new after Judgment Day. Our Father told us that He would give those who were thirsty the water of life and He told us that He will do it without charging them. We have been told that every knee will have bowed and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. So who will these people be who are thrown into the Lake of Fire for being liars, cowards, and murderers?

If we were to just read this verse it sounds like a ton of people will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. But when Jesus talked about this event in Matthew 22, He only said that one was cast out. Jesus tells us plainly that He will not lose any that He has been given except Judas, John 17:12, and as we have studied so many times before Jesus has been given all, John 17:2. So how can these two very different thoughts be reconciled to fit together? Here is how, we are told that these people have their part in the Lake of Fire. We are not told that they are thrown into the Lake, only that they have a part in it. 

But if any person’s work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. 1 Corinthians 3:15

The things that made these people do these things will be burned up. These people suffer loss, yet they themselves will be saved. They will have a part in the Lake, yet they themselves are not thrown into the Lake of Fire. Their evil works will be thrown in. There will be no more cowards, adulterers, liars, faithless, murderers, or idolaters after Judgment Day. All of these evil things that made people sin will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. Old things will pass away and everything will become new, Revelation 21:4. 

If all of these kinds of people were thrown into the Lake of Fire, then why didn’t Jesus allude to it in His parable of the Wedding Feast. Why would our Father have millions of people bow down to Him only to then throw them into Hell? If He will do this, wouldn’t He be acting just as evil dictators act today? If this is the way that it is then Grace would have to be earned and what satan did will have affected far more people then what Jesus did. Jesus will loose far more then just one that He has been given and our Father’s will that all men be saved will not be realized. What good would it be to be God if you didn’t get your will? So all this is saying is that these kind of things and these kinds of people will no longer exist. All things will be new! 

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